working out, chowing down, & living up the college life

“Dieting”

You often hear the phrase “dieting” thrown around a lot. Often times, it’s by the female population, whether in preparation for a special event, bathing suit season or a sporadic decision to lose weight for one reason or another.

It’s actually one of my biggest pet peeves.

Here’s the thing–

Dieting does not work, nor does it make sense.

A temporary way of eating is going to give you temporary results. Obviously if you are doing any type of “dieting” in the first place, you aren’t pleased with your current self and are not going to want him/her back anytime soon.

Often times too, the way people diet is completely unhealthy and unsustainable.

For example, eating minimal calories per day will cause your metabolism to slow down, making your body burn calories slower, slowing down any possible weight loss. You feel fatigued, so that wipes out any possible exercise you were going to do…and so you get the point. It’s bad news.

If you’re unhappy with your body and your health, the key is to change your habits, your diet, and eventually your outlook and lifestyle as a whole. Permanently. Slowly make healthier, more wholesome choices and ween yourself off of processed, packaged junk food.

I know easier said than done, but I really believe that the best way to begin this process is to educate yourself. Do some googling, watch some documentaries, maybe even pick up a good health book (The China Study, anyone?). Often times, people do the things they do because they simply don’t know. And it’s sad, but that can easily be changed.

It’s also important to keep in mind this statistic:

Your physique is 20% exercise and 80% diet.

Work out all you want, but if you’re eating a bunch of crap, at the end of the day, you are no better than you were at the beginning. And people wonder why they aren’t losing weight…

It’s harsh, but diet (not “dieting”) is just that important.

What are you?

We’re so fortunate to have the power to choose what goes into our bodies, our temples. We have the power to prevent deathly diseases through the very choices we make.

Changing your diet for the better only leads to wonderful things, which produces more wonderful things. It’s an endless cycle of wonderful feel good-ness.

Don’t be afraid or intimidated to try new things. Keep an open mind, because that’s what change will require you to have.

I’m not trying to sound preachy, but people need to know this stuff. I’ve heard the phrase “dieting” one too many times and just want to jump out of my chair and scream at the person, and then of course proceed to give them a briefing on health and nutrition.

You need to want it for yourself. Be your own motivation. Don’t let other people at the beach be your motivation. Change your ways to impress you. That’s the only way this will work.

How about for starters we say “I’m feeling fat. I think I may tweak my diet a bit.” Now that’s a little better.